Palin wins PolitiFacts 'Lie of the Year'

Wow, now this is something to be proud of.  PolitiFact is a service of the St. Petersburg Times where editors and reporters check facts against politicians statements.  This year they've awarded Sarah Palin's assertion the Congressional health care reform efforts included "death panels", government bureaucrats who would decide when folks would die.

Of all the falsehoods and distortions in the political discourse this year, one stood out from the rest.

"Death panels."

The editors of PolitiFact.com, the fact-checking Web site of the St. Petersburg Times, have chosen it as our inaugural "Lie of the Year."

On Aug. 10, PolitiFact rated Palin's statement Pants on Fire. In the weeks that followed, health care policy experts on both the right and the left said the euthanasia comparisons were inaccurate. Gail Wilensky, a health adviser to President George H.W. Bush, said the charge was untrue and upsetting.

Her family must be thrilled.